This blog post is a particularly interesting one for me to write because I am currently experiencing my own digital divide. For personal and financial reasons, I do not presently have internet. In fact, I’m writing this, right now, without the having internet access in my new apartment. Of course, I will come onto campus and find the 5 resources needed to fill this out, but therein lays the real hassle: I have to come onto campus in order to complete any work requiring internet access. Which means myriad transportation and timing issues: driving onto campus (which can be a 10 to 20 minute drive), finding parking (not really easy until later hours), and finishing work before campus locations close (Norman CIRCA labs close at 10 pm M-F and Norman library closes at 10:30 pm M-F). Asking a graduate student to solve these problems is one thing, but asking a middle or high school student to solve these problems is a different issue entirely. According to a December 31, 2008 article from BusinessWeek, only 35% of households with an annual income under $50,000 have broadband access (1). Broadband access is not the same as Internet access, but when only 35% can afford the $30 to $50 monthly fee, it represents a significant portion of the school attending population. Which leads me to my preliminary conclusion: teachers should carefully limit the amount of work they assign which requires access to off-campus technology.
Do you think it’s important to ensure that your students have digital access?
Yes. I believe this for a variety of reasons. First, digital literacy will be (if it already is not) a key part of the future lives of our students. Keeping them away from the technological resources available at school is irresponsible for a teacher. For example, Jose Manuel Barroso, President of European Commission sees digital literacy as a way to access a better life (2). Whether that means Smart Boards and Internet access in the classroom or computer labs elsewhere in the school, students should have exposure to resources provided by technology and should have experience producing work using technology. Second, technology often provides an interesting, more exciting way to present content in the classroom. A lot of the different software and websites presented in this course can be utilized in the classroom to great effect.
What will you do if your school does not provide the level of technology that you would like?
I will admit to becoming more attached to SMART boards, after experience with them in my latest practicum. Not only are they really cool (at least to someone having grown up on blackboards), there is a somewhat visceral thrill to being able to circle, cross out, and modify power point presentations on the fly. These actions are all easily available for students to do, increasing participation during the lecture process. But if I didn’t have one, I would have to modify my own content or rally my school to acquire SMART boards. In fact, the aptly named Teacherslovesmartboards.com is a chronicle of resources designed to increase the saturation of SMART boards for future teachers like me (3). The same is true for lessons that would normally require high amounts of Internet or computer access. If access is limited because there is limited access to computer, that means modifying the lesson to include either more time with the school’s technological resources, or making a trip to the school library and use actual paper books.
-Resource about SMART boards
What are other teachers doing to obtain the technology resources needed in the classroom?
I have heard one very interesting story in particular about another teacher trying to obtain extra technological resources in the classroom. My friend’s mother teacher 3rd grade in Marion county, and is also very technological savvy. She purchased and refurbished a number of old laptops to give her students greater Internet access in the classroom. However, her school has a possible against hooking up “outside” computers into the school network. So, her Internet connections were literally severed by some crazed employee upset about these extra laptops. While this is an extreme example, it shows the difficulty teachers have in bringing outside resources to their class. A more conventional way of acquiring technology in the classroom is to stay within the school structure. This can mean teachers getting access to computer labs, laptop carts, or digital media tools like cameras and audio recorders. If schools also do not possess these resources, it may mean rallying the school PTA to help address your plight. While this addresses the problem of acquiring technology access within the classroom, it does not address the problem of students having access to technology outside the classroom.
For mobile resources, like laptops, digital cameras, or audio recorders, can schools reliably trust loaning them out to students? Perhaps individual teachers would be comfortable loaning out their own resources, but I imagine districts have their own policies that may limit off-campus access to on-campus technological resources. The Alachua County Public Schools Educational Technology Plan covers official policy Alachua County, and has no provisions for off-campus use of technology, but many provisions for on-campus security. (4) The assumption therefore being that access to the schools’ technology must take place on school grounds while school administrators are present. So, if there is not enough class time for students that need to ask technology, that leaves having those students come onto/stay on campus for longer. That can work, but sometimes students have other activities to do, places to be, schedules to stay on. Sometimes teachers have other activities to do, other places to be, and other schedules to stay on. Teachers can refer their students to other sites with computer/Internet access, like the public library. Even if students could get extra access to technology outside of the classroom, it’s not something teachers should rely on.
Overall, I believe a lot of the burden for closing the digital divide within the classroom should be shouldered by the classroom teacher. The classroom teacher can follow many different paths to close this divide. One is using classroom time to give students access to technology. If that access is not there, the teacher can help lead efforts for the school to acquire extra technology. Two is acquiring extra technology and extra resources from outside the school and bringing them into the classroom. However, this can conflict with school policy and exposes the teacher to extra liabilities. Three is the most reliable method (in my mind): modifying lesson plans and expectations to meet the change in available technology. Despite the saturation of broadband access and other technologies, teachers cannot proceed with any lesson that only 90% of their class can reasonably access. A very recent article featuring results from a National Institute of Adult Continuing Education survey finds only 45% of people in the DE socioeconomic groups have regular access to a computer or laptop (5). I believe that a lesson inaccessible to those groups is irresponsible, and it’s the duty of teachers to modify their lessons so they can be accessed by and completed by all students.
1. “Bringing Broadband to the Urban Poor - BusinessWeek,” http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2008/tc20081230_015542.htm
2. “Barroso highlights the importance of digital literacy for employability and sustainable economic growth | ICDL Canada NewsBlog,” http://www.icdl.ca/nfblog/?p=81.
3. “Teachers Love SMART Boards: Smart Board Articles,” http://www.teacherslovesmartboards.com/articleswhitepapers/.
4. “Alachua County Public Schools,” http://www.sbac.edu/~ir/TechplanWeb.htm.
5. “Community Newswire,” http://www.communitynewswire.press.net/article.jsp?id=6305241.
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